Big Trouble in Old England
by Meteoricshipyards
Summary: Who better than Jack Burton, who's already defeated an immortal wizard, to help Harry with his problem. Crossover: Big Trouble in Little China. HP/Su Li


**Big Trouble in Old England**

Summary: A cross over between Harry Potter, the movie Big Trouble in Little China, and the Charles Finney book, A Magician Out of Manchuria.

Disclaimer: I own none of those properties and am not making any money from this work. I must say it was a lot of fun to do, though.

Author Note: I've seen so many fics that used "sever" when they meant "severe" that I was starting to think I was wrong. As I had to use it in this story, I double checked, and I wasn't.

**Part 1**

"I see by the clock in my 'lorry' that I've been in Merry Old England exactly four weeks . I have to say that it hasn't been the terrible experience I expected. For instance, no one has tried to kill me; I will concede that your country seems more civilized than the ol' U. S. of A. But to be fair, you've been at it longer.

"That's not something I thought I'd ever say, but I have enjoyed my time here. I might even be starting to feel a little sad that it all ends in another month. Then I get to go back to the 'Pork Chop Express'-- the sweetest cab ever built by Mac Trucks, so my leaving won't be all sadness.

"But when you're out on a dark and stormy night and someone in a creepy old castle offers you tea and crumpets, you just remember what Jack Burton always says: I take my tea black!"

The aforementioned Jack Burton put down the CB hand piece and turned the 10 wheeler on to a street that he hoped would get him back to the 'M'. But no, just another street lined with little boxes and neat lawns that all looked different, but at the same time made him imagine that the street was inhabited by clones. He looked at the map on the seat next to him (on the wrong side of the cab!) and tried to figure out where he needed to go. There was a flash of motion and he slammed on the brakes as a kid ran out from behind a hedge straight into the road..

The reflexes were there but the brakes weren't. The truck was mostly stopped before it hit him, and the kid went down on the pavement. Jack put on the parking break and hopped out.

The kid was already getting up.

"Whoa, there, small fry! Don't move until we've assessed the damage."

"If we don't move, they'll kill me and you, too," the kid replied.

Jack looked where the boy had come from and used a phrase he had picked up since being in England.

"Bloody hell! Egg warned me about these guys!" He scooped the kid up, unceremoniously tossed him in the cab through the still open driver's door, and threw the lorry into first. He was already pulling away before he felt that he had the time to close the door. The truck rocked with the sound of an explosion and Jack saw what he guessed were parts of the truck littering the road behind him.

"Thanks. You saved my life."

"Don't thank me too soon," Jack replied, as the truck was rocked by another explosion. He spun the wheel and pulled on to another street.

"Not that way! I live down here!"

Jack had the speedometer up to 50 and wondered what that was in American. A plume of smoke rose from a house most of the way down the block.

"Bloody hell!" Jack repeated as the smoke took on the image of skull with a snake slithering from its mouth.

"That's my house," the boy explained. "That mark means that they killed my family."

"Sorry, kid," Jack began but the boy interrupted him.

"Oh, no!" Jack saw the same thing as the boy -- a group of black robed people wearing white masks moving towards the road from the house. Somehow, even before he lost that bet and had to work it off over here, Egg Shen, his friend who practiced Chinese black magic, had sent him a note warning him about people in black robes and white masks. How the hell did he _know_?

"Get down, kid!" Jack shouted, as he grabbed the boy's shoulder and literally slammed him into the bench they were sitting on. A green beam of light came through the windshield and hit where the boy's head had been a moment before.

Jack floored the truck as the boy said, "Don't get hit by one of those!"

"Bad magic, eh, kid?" He threw the truck into the next gear and swerved at the last minute, hitting one of the black clad pains in the ass. He turned at the next road, running over the sidewalk because his speed precluded a sharper turn, and kept glancing in the rear view mirrors.

"I think we lost them. By the way, the name's Jack Burton," he said, sticking out his hand.

"Hi. Harry Potter."

"So why those guys after you? And where's the nearest police station?"

"We can't go to the police about this."

"Oh, another one of those sorts of things. Don't worry, I've had lots of experience fighting magical immortal SOBs."

"You have?"

"Sure. And if there's one thing I know, you can never go to the police in situations like that."

"How did you win?"

"It's all in the reflexes, Harry."

- - -

**Part 2**

"So you really have an immortal sorcerer user after you?"

Harry nodded over his burger. They had stopped in Guildford, mostly because Jack was hungry. Jack wanted to examine the truck, too. There were several man sized holes in the cargo section, but the magic attack had missed the drive train and frame.

"That's gonna cost, but it could be worse. Had they hit lower, they would have stopped us and totaled the truck."

"Wizards don't know anything about technology," Harry explained.

"Good for us. That has other implications, too, you know." Harry looked puzzled. "They know what a submachine gun can do?" Harry shook his head. Jack smiled. "I think I need to do business with this guy I heard about in London. But first, lunch. Eww, what is this?" They had walked to the front of the truck and Jack pulled a silvery metal hand out of the grate in front of the radiator.

"I think that is Petter Pettigrew's. He cut off his hand during Voldemort's resurrection, and Voldemort gave him this magic hand in compensation. From what I could see, it worked like a real hand."

"Hmm," Jack said, tossing it through one of the holes into the back of the truck. "It might come in handy. I'm not up on the mumbo jumbo stuff, but I have a friend. . . ."

So now they were in the seedier of several pubs they had looked into. Jack picked this one because of the TV. It was reporting the terrorist attack on a town in Surrey. A helicopter shot showed a number of houses looked blown up. The report said dozens of men, women, and children were killed, but it gave no names.

"So how did you kill your immortal wizard?" Harry asked.

"I had help from a Chinese sorcerer named Egg Chen. He interrupted this ceremony so Lo Pan was mortal at the time. I think I'll give him a call. Don't go away."

While Jack was at the phone, Harry watched the telly and found no more details. Jack sat down with a disgusted look on his face.

"It's not like he didn't owe me! It's not like I didn't save the world from an eternity of rule by Lo Pan! What's a guy got to do to get a favor in this world." He took a breath and calmed down. "When the world gives you lemons, always remember what Jack Burton says: Keep your damn lemons! I don't drink margaritas! Just gimme my tequila straight!"

He got up from the table. "Let's go, Harry." The young wizard followed with a confused expression on his face.

They exited the pub while the newscaster reported a sighting of an orangutan in Little Whinging, just a few miles from the terrorist attack.

"Where are we going?"

Jack waved a scrap of paper. "Egg gave me the name of someone in Oxford who might help." They left the pub and found a visitor waiting at the lorry.

"Hedwig!" Harry called out, joyously. The owl flew to his outstretched arm.

"Friend of yours?"

"Yes. I told her to get away when the Death Eaters attacked, but I wasn't sure if she made it! But she's the smartest owl in the world!"

"I'll take your word on that, Harry."

- - -

"Pettigrew!" Sirius snarled, dropping the sheet over the body. It had been disgusting work, but he, Remus, and Dumbledore had to do it, unless they wanted to get one of the students to check the bodies, looking for Harry.

The morgue attendant come over. "You know this one, sir?"

"Yes, Peter Pettigrew. One of the terrorists. He's been missing for years. At least he turned up dead."

A mild /Confundus/ while the attendant was looking at Dumbledore's Chocolate Frog card had him convinced that the three were from Her Majesty's Secret Service.

"Albus, can you get the aurors in here to confirm this and get me a pardon or something?"

"Yes, I think I can. They can't very well put you in prison for killing a man if he wasn't killed until thirteen years after you went to prison. I'm just glad Harry's not here."

"But where is he? Did they get him?"

"I have Severus checking into that now."

"And if he is?"

"I fear the worst. You go back to hiding; I'll go talk to Madam Bones."

- - - -

"Are you sure this is the place?" Harry asked. They had driven to Oxford and found the address that Jack had been given. The sign outside said "Yin's Laundry."

Jack shrugged. "Egg ran a tourist bus. I don't expect much when dealing with sorcerers." They entered the building. A small, Oriental girl looked up from behind the counter.

"May I be of assistance? Harry Potter?"

Harry looked blank for a moment, then the name came to him. "Su?"

She nodded.

"Mr. Burton, I assume?" A middle aged, Oriental man came through the door behind the counter.

"Do I know you?" Jack asked.

"I am Mr. Li. Our mutual acquaintance, Mr. Chen, said you would be coming. Ah, and you have the child of prophecy. That makes things easier."

"What?" Harry asked, looking between Jack and Mr. Li.

"What?" Jack asked, looking between Li and Harry.

"What?" Su asked, looking between Harry and her father.

- - - -

**Part 3**

Harry, Su, Jack, and Mr. Li sat around the kitchen table in the back of the Laundry. Mrs. Li was busy cooking. Harry had surprised Su when he volunteered to help her set the table. Mr. Li had been describing Voldemort to Jack, and from her expression, to Su for the first time. The story had included a description of the three Unforgivable spells.

"So Voldemort is after Harry because Harry blasted him as a baby?" Jack asked.

"Only partially. This is where the prophecy comes in. Su, please get me the big book from my desk." She got up and bowed, and left the room. She re-appeared with a large book that she put down on the table next to her father. It was a fairly new looking book, Harry noticed, and it had a paper cover with a simple line drawing on it. He read the title: The Wizards' Karma Sutra. Then his mind deciphered the lines as two people, each standing on one leg, the other around the other's thighs, arms around each other, and both naked. He looked away quickly while he turned red enough to rival a Weasley's hair.

"No, Su, the old book," Mr. Li said, as he handed the book back to his daughter. She disappeared again and returned with an old, leather bound book. Mr. Li opened the book, showing everyone it was written in Chinese.

"This is the Book of Three. It records history and prophecies, the latter becoming history as they pass. It was one of the few things successfully removed from China by one of my father-in-law's companions during the great escape of 1958 when the Statue of Secrecy was breached and the Chinese Communists successfully wiped out the magical community of China." He flipped through the book, finding a page that looked indistinguishable from any other page. He began reading slowly, as he translated the words in his head.

"And the Chaos child of the Storm shall defeat the Fleeing Sorcerer seven times. First he shall be marked. Then he shall burn the Sorcerer. Third, he shall destroy his memory. Fourth, he shall unman him with the evidence of his crimes. Fifth, he will defeat his servant, the silver one of the first year. Sixth, he shall overcome the Sorcerer who Flees Death in a contest of wills. Seventh, he shall mock him, and his companion shall kill the Sorcerer. And the Storm Child and the Mouse granddaughter will. . . ." He looked up embarrassed.

"What?" Harry and Jack asked.

Su spoke up angrily, "Daddy! There's a prophecy about me and you never told me?"

"I didn't want to upset you, dear."

"Wan? There is a prophecy about our daughter and you never told me?" his wife said in a quiet voice that Harry felt carried more power than it should.

"I didn't want to upset you, either, dear."

"Out with it!" she replied, turning towards him still holding the knife that she had been using on some vegetables.

Jack added his two cents, "Might as well tell them before your wife uses that knife on you."

Mrs. Li looked down and seemed surprised to find that she was still holding the knife. "Sorry, I forgot I had that in my hand. I would never use a knife to hurt anyone. Especially my husband."

Su whispered to Harry, "That's because her hands and feet are deadly weapons. She can do more damage with them than with a knife."

Harry nodded, not really understanding. "What do you mean the prophecy is about you?" he asked.

"I am the granddaughter of the Mouse Princess. There were three sisters, born in the last year of the Emperors' court that some people wanted to use as a rallying point to overthrow the Communist party. Her older sisters were said to be very beautiful but very foolish and went along with the plot. The Mouse Princess was very ugly but very wise and knew that it could never succeed. They threw her into the ocean and she almost drowned. The Magician out of Manchuria found her, and not only healed her, but made her beautiful. Soon after leaving China, she became ill and it turned out to be morning sickness. The proper number of months later, she had my mother. After she grew up she married the Magicians' apprentice, now a full Magician," she pointed to her father, "who is now going to read the prophecy concerning the Mouse Princess' granddaughter!"

Mr. Lee cleared his throat and concentrated. You didn't survive as an apprentice in China if you weren't smart, and one glance at his wife told him it wouldn't be smart not to read.

"And the Storm Child and the Mouse granddaughter will fill half a sky with children."

"How many!" Su cried.

"We'll what?" Harry wanted to know.

"How do we know Harry's this Storm Child?" Jack wanted to know.

"Probably because of my scar," Harry said, lifting his bangs away from his famous scar.

Jack squinted at it. "I don't get it."

"It's a lightning bolt?" Harry said with a question, because he had never encountered anyone who said it wasn't.

Jack tilted his head, "Maybe. And that makes you this Storm Child or Chaos Child?"

Mr. Li nodded.

"And some of those defeats sound like me. I got this scar when I was one and deflected a curse that rebounded on Voldemort. In first year in school I killed someone who let Voldemort possess him by burning him -- left over magical protection from my mother. I destroyed Voldemort's memory which was in a magical book in second year. I'm not sure about the fourth time. Unman him? I dueled him, but really didn't do much to him."

"Tell us what happened, Harry," Mr. Li said. They were all quiet as Harry described the night of the third task of the Triwizard Tournament. The boy stared at nothing as he spoke, and there was no emotion in his voice. He finished with a description of Fudge rejecting his word and a very short explanation of how Moody was really Barty Couch, Jr. He closed his eyes after speaking, took a deep breath, and noticed that his hand was being held by Su. He kind of liked that and didn't let on that he noticed.

Mr. Li thought for a moment and then spoke. "Prophecies are sometimes difficult to understand. It could mean that you defeated Voldemort in front of his minions, thus making him less than a man because he couldn't defeat a boy. Or it could mean your blood in the ritual made him something other than a man -- you said he looks snake-like."

Harry nodded, then shrugged.

Mr. Li continued. "I think it matters not. The important thing is you defeated him. So, we have the past. Let us look to the future. The fifth battle will be against his servant," he checked the book, "'the silver one of the first year.' A silver servant?"

"What about that hand?" Jack asked. Everyone looked at him with various levels of confusion on their faces. "That metal hand that was stuck in the front of the truck?"

"Oh, yes, Pettigrew. He was Voldemort's servant, and he did have the silver hand, but I don't know what the rest means."

"Neither do I," Mr. Li answered, "but if it is fulfilled, it hardly matters. That means only two more confrontations. The battle of wills and mocking him, which allows your companion to kill him. Although, how that will come about is unclear. Had you asked about any of these descriptions of battles before I met you and I would not have been able to understand what they were about, either. Prophecies are fuzzy, at best."

"What about my prophecy?" Su asked, still holding Harry's hand. "How can we fill half a sky with children?"

"I wouldn't mind knowing that myself, if just to avoid the whole thing," Jack added.

Harry wasn't sure if he felt the same way. Half a sky full of children would be a very large family, and he wasn't even fifteen yet. . . .

- - -

**Part 4**

Voldemort lifted the Cruciatus spell from another of the Death Eaters. It had taken a while to punish them all. He couldn't let them get away with failing him without letting each and every one of them know they had failed. He tried to relax in his throne, but the bones that made it up were quite uncomfortable. Sure it looked sinister, but to be really practical he would have to consider getting cushions for it.

"What's next on the agenda?" he asked.

Lucius Malfoy, who had not been part of the attack on Privet Dr. and consequently not subject to the pain curse, stepped forward.

"My lord," he said, bowing, "Snape is here."

"Bring him in and have him report," Voldemort said briskly. He wanted this done, so he could get out of the damn chair.

Snape entered, kissed the hem of Voldemort's robes, and spoke.

"My lord, Harry Potter has disappeared. He was not among the dead from the attack on his home . . . ."

"I know that! I've already had that reported! Tell me something I don't know!" Snape gulped, knowing that if he didn't comply that he would soon be under the Cruciatus spell.

"The old fool doesn't know where Harry Potter is," he said quickly. Voldemort, who had been looking distracted suddenly concentrated fully on Snape.

"What is he doing about it?"

"He's got his Order searching. They are running around like a chicken with its head cut off."

"Perhaps an accurate description of Dumbledore's Order. Find Potter before Dumbledore does!"

"Where shall we look, my Lord?" Malfoy was foolish enough to ask. After he picked himself up from screaming on the floor, Voldemort answered.

"Wherever Potter is, as long as you get there before Dumbledore's people!"

- - -

Around the table, Mrs. Li unexpectedly answered the question. "Half a sky of children means six children. The Chinese zodiac, like the Arabic one, has twelve icons. A full sky of something has twelve, while half a sky would be six."

"Oh," Su said, a little relieved. "Six I suppose I could handle. But you're going to change their nappies!"

Harry's eyes widened. "I don't know how to change a nappie!" he protested. Jack snorted in amusement.

"Just be glad you're a wizard," Mr. Li said. "It's much worse if you don't have magic at your disposal. But that's neither here nor there. We must address the next defeat of the Dark Lord. The battle of wills -- have you any experience with mind magic, Harry?"

"Uh, no. Unless you mean like the Imperius. I was able to throw it off when the fake Moody tried it on me."

"That is one type, yes. Perhaps Yin would be good enough to introduce you to some others after dinner."

"A single session would not help him," his wife said.

"No, but at least he won't be totally surprised should he be mentally attacked. Let us eat."

"I don't suppose your magic could fix my truck, could it?"

"It might. We shall look at it after dinner, Mr. Burton."

- - -

Malfoy cursed as he made his way from the Ministry of Magic. Edgecombe, in the Department of Magical Transportation, didn't have an address for the Mudblood. He would have liked to start there, and show the mudblood girl who who had been getting better grades than Draco what a pureblood could do, but there was nothing for it. She never got connected to the floo network so there was no address.

Well, the Weasleys would do just as well. He'd enjoy getting some revenge on Arthur.

- - -

After dinner, Harry, Su, and Mrs. Li went to a specialized room in the residential part of the building. The floor and lower walls were covered with mats, similar to the ones that were used in his grade school when they did tumbling during Physical Education. Mrs. Li had Harry try to keep his mind focused on a single thought while she taught him to move his body through a set of poses. She called it Tai Chi. After an hour of that, she cast Legilimency on him. Starting gently at first, and giving pointers on how to protect his mind better each time, they worked on helping him occlude his mind for an hour.

While they were doing that, Su was practicing martial arts moves.

"Wow," Harry said. "Can I learn that?"

"That would take longer to gain _any _proficiency in than Occlumency," Mrs. Li told him, "although you did very well tonight. Much better than I expected, actually.

"But let me show you a few things that you can keep in mind, should you ever get into a fight." She went over to her daughter, who stopped her practice and they bowed to each other. Mrs. Li said something quietly to Su and they stood ready.

Su suddenly changed her center of gravity, turned slightly, and kicked out with her foot, snapping it very quickly at her mother. Mrs. Li turned slightly, and the foot passed her stomach, where it would have hit had she not moved.

"First lesson, while your legs have stronger muscles than your arms, do not try this until you have learned and practiced first. A kick like this puts you in a precarious balance, and makes it easy to knock you over.

"Second lesson, if her foot had hit me, would you agree that I would have been hurt?" Harry nodded. "I agree, but it did not hit me. So your second lesson is to not be where the attack is aimed."

She got back into her original stance facing her daughter who kicked at her again. Almost faster than he could follow, Mrs. Li had knocked her daughter's foot away so it didn't hit her.

"Third lesson, it takes less power to deflect an attack than to stop one. Oh, and an unintended lesson, you see I'm facing Su, but she's side on to me? I'm this way for demonstration purposes, so I'm presenting a bigger target for her. Be the smallest target you can be."

She nodded to her daughter, who again kicked at her. Mrs. Li deflected Su's attack by getting a hand under the leg and lifting, which had the effect of throwing Su to the matted floor. Harry started rushing over, but Su smiled and held up a hand.

"I'm all right, Harry. I was expecting it, and caught myself."

"Unfortunately, teaching you to fall is another skill we don't have time for. But the fourth lesson is that when someone attacks, they are less able to defend. In a magical combat, it is much harder to turn someone's attack back at them, but they cannot both attack and defend, and thus are more vulnerable at that point.

"These are all good theoretical lessons, but I will give you some practical ones. Again, I would not suggest trying to kick like Su until you have learned, but should you get into a tight situation," she put her hands around Su's neck, although she did not apply any pressure, "the two most vulnerable spots on your opponent are the eyes," at which Su put her hands on the side of her mother's head, with the thumbs over her eyes, "and the groin." Su made a kicking motion that put her knee into her mother's groin, but without any power behind it. "If you are in a fight for your life, these are points of attack. If not, I would suggest not using them, because it could make your opponents decide that revenge requires your life should you blind or rupture one of them. Death Eaters always attack to kill unless they are just saving you for a later kill, so do not hesitate."

Harry nodded.

"End of lesson. Come, I'll show you where you will sleep."

- - -

**Part 5**

Mrs. Li showed him to the guest room and lent him a pair of her husband's pajama's. "They are too long, but Su's are too small. Sorry, they will have to do." She pointed out the bathroom, gave him a never before used toothbrush, and said goodnight. Su took a quick shower while he got dressed for bed. When she re-appeared, she was also dressed for bed.

"Harry, can I talk to you?"

"Uh, sure, Su," he said, entering her bedroom as she held the door open for him, and left it open once he was in. It was small, neat, and very bright. A large stuffed mouse sat on the desk, which was where Su directed him to sit.

"I have a confession to make," she said, looking at her feet. Harry wasn't sure what was coming.

"In second year, when it was found that you were a Parslemouth, I was too afraid to support you. I knew that didn't make you evil or Slytherin's heir. You see, I'm a Parslemouth, too."

That was not what Harry had been expecting. "You are?" was all he could think of to say. She nodded.

"Somewhere on my mother's father side I have an ancestor who is a snake. All the descendants have this ability. I should have said something to you then, but I was afraid. Can you imagine what they would say of me if they knew I was descended from a snake?"

"How is that even possible?"

"I have no idea! I used to ask my grandfather that, until I got old enough to understand where babies come from. Now I don't even want to imagine how it happened."

Harry's eyes suddenly widened. He nodded. "Yes, you're right. No imagining." Su watched as he slowly came back to himself.

"Can you ever forgive me?"

"Sure. You didn't know me. And you saw how everyone else treated me once they knew, so it was smart -- very Ravenclaw -- of you to keep silent. I'm not mad." Harry saw as Su visibly relaxed, and looked at him. She was very pretty, he thought.

"Thank you. I've felt bad about that for years."

"It's in the past. I'm over it. And I'll keep your secret." She was even prettier when she smiled.

"Thank you, Harry. I think we should go to bed now." She walked over to the door, showing him out. Harry breathed a little sigh of relief. No matter what the prophecy said, he wasn't ready for any of those prophesied babies yet. He noticed something on the back of the door, which was facing him.

"The Chinese Zodiac," he read. "Pig: you are proud, with aspirations of nobility. Unfortunately, you have a thing for mud and no manners at all. You smell."

"Oh, that's not really the Chinese Zodiac. It's a joke poster I got a few years ago because I thought it was funny. In the real zodiac, they emphasize the good qualities of the animals. Here, they do the opposite." She was glad of the distraction. She was already feeling guilty because she hadn't told him all of her secret.

"Rat: you are quick. Quick to run from the results of your actions. Quick to change sides if need to. Quick to blame someone else. Which doesn't bother you because no one likes you anyway."

"My favorite is the Dragon," Su said. "You are powerful, ungainly, large, and have an unfortunate tendency to step on other people. Your breath can be fatal; try mouthwash."

They read the rest of the poster amidst much laughing and said goodnight.

- - -

Harry wasn't sure how long he would have slept if a tiny owl, Ron's owl Pigwigion, hadn't flown into his room and chirped and (might as well admit it) attacked him, until his Seeker reflexes kicked in and he grabbed the tiny bird. Pig had no letter, so Harry got out of bed and tossed him into Hedwig's cage, after inviting the Snowy Owl out. Harry scratched his head, looking puzzled at the owl, but decided to get ready for the day.

He looked at his scrawny body, messy hair, and unattractive glasses in the mirror and said, "Me? A father?" He shook his head.

Entering the kitchen, he found the rest of the family, and even Jack, already around the table. They all looked at him with concern in their eyes.

Uh-oh, Harry thought. This can't be good.

"What's the matter?" he said aloud. Everyone looked away from him, but Mrs. Li pushed the paper over to him.

The picture showed a wrecked house that, due to the damage, he didn't recognize. The Dark Mark was clearly visible, though. The headline proclaimed:

**Note from You-Know-Who found at Weasley's Place:**

**Harry Potter - Surrender or the Weasleys Die!**

**Part 6**

Harry stared at the paper, his mind blank.

Su, gently directed him into a chair.

"Fudge. . . ?" Harry began.

"He's not doing anything," Mrs. Li answered. "He's talking out of both sides of his mouth. He's denying that Voldemort is back while at the same time saying that if he is, they can't afford the manpower to mount a rescue mission."

"But we have to do something!"

Jack spoke up, "Of course we do, but the paper makes a big deal of saying that the note didn't give you any way of surrendering. That doesn't make sense. Why give you some sort of instruction that you can't follow?"

"If you were going to surrender, Harry, how would you do it?" Su asked him.

"I suppose," he stopped and thought for a moment. "I'd need to surrender to someone I know is a Death Eater. Someone like. . . Malfoy!"

- - -

Voldemort entered the drawing room of Malfoy Manor. Two dozen Death Eaters bowed to him.

"This had better work, Malfoy!"

"My lord! Edgecombe in the Department of Magical Transportation has re-routed the floo connection from all your servants' homes to here. It will only allow Harry Potter through. Anyone else who attempts to come through will be routed to a temporary connection in the St. Mungo's incinerator. Eventually Potter will surrender; if not this morning, then later in the day when we start killing the Weasleys and leaving their bodies to be found with more notes. He is a Gryffindor, my lord, through and through. He will not be able to not come."

"He better come, for your sake!" Voldemort said, and left the room. His throne had been moved in there, and as much as he wanted to be there when Potter was captured and kill him before he had a chance to escape, he hated sitting in that thing. He went back to Malfoy's den where a big, well cushioned chair was waiting for him.

- - -

Hedwig flew to Harry, and made a somewhat ungainly landing, using only one set of talons. Carefully held in the other was Pig. Harry took the small owl, and returned him to Hedwig's cage.

"A bit north," he told the waiting group. His original plan was to have Hedwig direct them to Ron, but wherever the Weasleys were, the owl couldn't find them. However, if Pig had bonded with Ron, then there were no known wards that could keep the little owl from finding him, so the plan had been modified to use Pig. A new problem arose because the excitable little feather ball had no brains: it would fly off, not wait, and not let them follow. Harry found it interesting how similar Ron and his owl were. Version three of the plan involved Hedwig retrieving the owl after a few minutes. They had driven from Oxford west and south to within a dozen miles of Glastonbury. Mr. Li had expanded Jack's truck and they all fit inside, much to Jack's amazement.

It became more difficult following the bird, though. They were close, and the roads didn't always go exactly the right way. They eventually went down a disused looking road and as they rounded a corner Harry shouted, "Stop!"

But Jack didn't. He just kept driving.

"Mr. Burton, I think that was our destination," Mr. Li said.

"What are you talking about? There's nothing along here."

"Except the big old gate with the name 'Crabbe' on it? And the dirt road that went through the gate?"

"If there had been anything like that, I would have noticed it!"

"There was something like that," Mrs. Li said, "but you didn't notice it because it's spelled so you don't notice it. Pull over here. I'll scout the area."

Jack pulled over, and turned to look at Mrs. Li. The Chinese woman had arranged herself in a lotus position on the bench and was very still. Harry could barely see her breathing.

"What. . . ?" Jack started, but was quieted by Mr. Li.

Everyone was still for several minutes. Then Mrs. Li took a deep breath and opened her eyes.

"There is only one adult and several children, about Su and Harry's age, acting as guards. The Weasleys are in the basement of a large house that way."

"How do you know all that?"

Mr. Li answered, "She knows the discipline of Far Seeing, sometimes called Astral Projection in the West. It is limited, she could not see this far from our home, unless to check in on someone she cares deeply about."

"Great, so the family we've come to save is in a house that I can't get to because it's spelled against me. How'd they even know I was coming?"

Mr. Li answered, "It wasn't you, specifically, Mr. Burton. It is spelled against all non-magic people. Should you cross the barrier, you should be all right."

"How do I get across?"

"Can you turn the truck around?"

"Sure, give me a minute." Actually, it took several minutes to get the lorry turned around on the country lane. They then went very slowly as they neared the spot. On Mr. Li's command, Jack closed his eyes, and let Su's father take control of the steering wheel. He directed the lorry through the gate and down the road towards the unseen house.

"You may open your eyes now, Mr. Burton. We are inside the wards."

"Great! What's our plan, here? In and out, like the wind?"

"Something like that, Mr. Burton," Su's mother said. "We shall sneak in, engage the Death Eater, subdue him and the children, release the Weasleys, and return to your truck. Once we are back here, we shall activate this portkey," she placed a stone on the dashboard, "and return to Oxford."

The house came into view. They stopped near the front door.

"Stay together. Once we are in there, it will be Yin's and my job to fight the Death Eater, Su and Harry will engage their classmates and free the Weasleys if they get a chance, and Jack will help where ever he can."

"Are you sure it's a good idea to bring Harry and Su? They are just, er, children, after all."

"Harry is a Triwizard champion. And Su is a black belt as well as an excellent witch. I believe it is Harry's destiny to go, and I doubt I could keep my daughter from accompanying her future husband."

"Riiiight. Whatever. As Jack Burton always says, big things come in little packages. Let's get this over with."

As they got out of the lorry, Harry remarked, "It's not _my_ fault that I'm short!"

- - -

**Part 7 **

Jack looked over the house. He pulled a sub-machine gun from under the truck's bench. "I would have liked to have visited my friend in London to get a bit more firepower, but as Jack Burton always says, if you're gonna be unprepared, at least be unprepared with a gun."

He pointed at the front door, "It's probably not a good idea to go in through there. Leaving by the front door is fine, usually we're running and dodging at the same time. I saw a greenhouse on the side of the building, shall we see if we can get in through that?"

The group followed him to the side of the big building, and found the door from the greenhouse to a solarium open. They walked through a parlor, and reached the corridor that ran from the front door to the back of the house. They followed Yin to the kitchen at the back of the house, and through another door descended to a pantry and a wine cellar beyond.

Yin pointed at a rack of bottles. "Beyond that is the dungeon where the Weasleys are being held. Wait while I look beyond the wall to check on where everyone is." She sat on the floor in a lotus position, and closed her eyes.

Suddenly the wall she was facing started moving.

"Sometimes this magic stuff can be pretty useful," Jack said, just before a blond haired kid about Harry's age came into view. His eyes widened with surprise, as he pointed a wand at the first person he saw and shouted.

"_Crucio_!"

Jack dropped his gun as he fell to the floor screaming. Harry cast a disarming charm on Draco. The Slytherin's wand flew one direction as the Malfoy heir flew the other -- very quickly. Harry had put a lot of power into that spell.

Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle weren't officially supposed to be in the dungeon. They were just keeping Crabbe's father company. The two bodyguards raced to the fallen body of their leader, which was where several stunning spells hit them.

Hugo Crabbe poked his wand around the corner and cast a spell down the corridor. He quickly looked and saw Harry leaping out of the way. Seeing no other attackers, he stepped out so he had a clear view to the wine cellar. He started casting killing curses, in the hopes that someone would stick their head out and get hit.

Meanwhile, in the wine cellar, the rescuers were picking a twitching Jack off the floor.

"Dammit! What the hell was that?"

"The pain curse. You'll feel better in a little while," Harry told him.

"What's that?" he asked, pointing at the green beams of light that were coming through the secret doorway.

Harry answered, "That's the killing curse. You don't get up from that."

"How do get down there, then?"

Harry's face scrunched up for a moment.

"Su, how's your banishing charm?"

"Outstanding. Why?"

Harry grabbed a bottle of wine, and rolled it across the floor. "When it's in front of the corridor, banish it down the corridor."

She looked confused, but nodded in agreement.

The first bottle was destroyed by a curse. The second was ignored, and Su cast her spell. Harry cast at the same time.

"_Engorgio_!" Harry said, quietly but firmly.

The bottle sped away, growing larger as it did so. Harry rolled another as they heard the bottle shatter. A moment later and another enlarged bottle disappeared through the secret passage. Even before it was out of sight, Harry rolled another, and cast the enlargement spell on the bottle.

They heard the second bottle being shattered, but there was a scream from Crabbe. The yell was cut off with a thunk. Harry poked his head in the former line of fire and saw Crabbe on the floor, bleeding. As Harry looked, he disappeared.

"He's gone," Harry said, as he ran down the passage, followed by the rest of the rescuers.

They found the corridor ended in a room about fifteen feet wide with two jail cells on each side. Crabbe the younger, Goyle, and Draco were clumped together in an uncomfortable looking heap opposite the entrance. Six Weasleys were in the cells. They looked bruised and bloody.

"This is more than I expected," Jack said.

"Harry!" several read heads called from behind bars. Others said, "Harry?"

"Hey," Jack looked around, "Where's the bastard who was throwing those killing curses?"

"After he got hit by the bottle, he portkeyed away," Arthur explained.

"Whatever that means. But he probably had the key. How are we gonna get them out?"

Mr. And Mrs. Li were already casting.

"_Alohomora_!" The twins were freed, and another moment later the parents and Ron and Ginny were, too.

"If you bothered to look . . ." one of the twins said.

". . . you would have noticed. . ." the other continued.

". . . that there were no locks. All magic," they finished together.

One of the twins picked up a wand from the pile of Slytherins, and tossed another to his brother.

"Draco doesn't have one," he complained.

"It's in the other room," Harry said, pointing.

Molly wrung her hands, "We need to find our wands."

Arthur disagreed, "No, there's no time. Once Crabbe appeared wherever his portkey sent him, it alerted the other Death Eaters, who are probably donning their masks right now. We need to move, and fast!"

He pushed Molly towards the exit, then Ron who was next closest to him.

Mr. Li called, "Jack! Lead them out. I'll take up the rear."

"Right," Jack said, confidently. "Follow me!"

- - -

**Part 8**

In retrospect, the fact that most of the Death Eaters were lying in wait for Harry in Malfoy Manor probably saved the Weasleys and their rescuers. It took several minutes before someone found Hugo Crabbe's body in the Portkey room at Riddle House. Then he apparated to near Malfoy Manor, and ran across the wards, and finally reached the rest of the Death Eaters. He was immediately dispatched to tell Voldemort, while Malfoy assigned half of his fellow minions to get to Crabbe's house. As Malfoy temporarily removed the anti-apparition protections, he heard the messenger scream. He didn't want to, because he was sure he would be screaming in a moment, too, but he went to inform his lord what steps he had taken.

The messenger hadn't been killed, but he was still shaking on the floor, the results of a Cruciatus. But there was no sign of Voldemort.

- - -

Jack ran through the house with teenagers hard on his heals. The older folks were the slow ones, with Molly and Arthur huffing as they reached the top of the stairs. They followed their children, who were already disappearing through the front door, as well as they could. Wan and Yin stayed right with them, being both younger and more fit they weren't winded.

Jack opened the back of the lorry, not having any place else to put the teenagers -- even the expanded cab wasn't big enough for all of them. They were piling in while the adults were running from the front door.

All the kids except Harry were in when a high pitched voice yelled, "POTTER! _Avada Kedavra_."

Harry glanced at the front of the house and saw a green spell on its way towards him. He dived out of the way, which put him further away from the truck.

Jack brought up his gun and shot a short burst at Voldemort. His WWII era Sten gun wasn't as small as the TEC 9 he had used in that incident with Lo Pan, and it took two hands to use, but it didn't jump around in his hand as badly as the TEC 9 did.

Voldemort's black robes started looking wet in spots, and he looked down at himself in shock. He pointed his wand at himself, ignoring everything else.

Jack took the opportunity to grab Harry and throw him bodily into the truck. He raced for the cab, where Yin was the last adult getting in. He had reached the door when a scream came from the back of the cab.

"Get in!" Wan called, as he hesitated. He jumped in, and before he could even close the door Wan's wand had touched the portkey, and the truck spun magically away.

But things had not gone as well as they thought in the front. Harry ended up in a heap in the back and said as he started to get up, "How's that for a rescue?"

Or that's what he wanted to say. He had gotten to his hands and knees as he said, "How," but brought both his hands to his scar, which made him fall down again. He also started screaming.

His scar had flared with pain and suddenly Harry wasn't alone in his mind. He found himself face to face with Voldemort in the cemetery again, although it was different; there were bits of furniture from Privet Dr., a table from the Gryffindor common room, pictures of many people littered the table, and a ghostly image of Hermione was sitting there. For some reason the zodiac poster from Su's room was floating in the air nearby.

A six foot wand extended from Voldemort's hands and touched his forehead. That was the source of his pain! No matter which way he turned, he couldn't stop the pain, nor escape the wand. He swatted at it, but his hand went right through the thing.

Hermione said, with the voice of Mrs. Li, "Keep your mind focused on one thing as you go through the motions."

Voldemort was going on and on about how worthless he was and how easily he'll kill him now, but Harry had heard it all before: from Vernon, from Snape, from Draco. He was, frankly, pretty pathetic in the verbal threatening department. Harry's eyes fell on the poster.

"Snake: You are a deep thinker, wise, mystic, graceful, soft-spoken, cold blooded, and your propensity for lying in the sun is just one symptom of your overall laziness. Get a job!"

He turned to Voldemort and calmed himself. He recited the description of the Snake again. This seemed to incite Voldemort, and he seemed to be yelling at Harry even more, but Harry wasn't listening. Yes, his scar hurt, but it was only pain. He'd been in pain before and lived through it. He took a step towards Voldemort and noticed the mind-scape had changed. The tombstones had faded away, as had most of the grounds. Instead of grass, he was walking on a rug thrown over the wooden floor of the Gryffindor common room. He recited the Snake description again.

Voldemort grabbed the wand with both hands and seemed to be straining. The pain in his forehead increased, and for a moment, Harry lost his train of thought and stumbled.

Voldemort laughed in triumph but Harry looked at him and said, "Get a job." He got up again.

"Get a job." Step. "Get a job!" Step. Voldemort wasn't laughing now. "GET A JOB!" Harry was right in front of him now. Voldemort held his wand in shaking hands which might have been because of the power he was pushing through it, but the look on his face was one of fear.

"GET AN EFFING JOB!" Harry yelled, and brought his foot up, right into mental image of Voldemort. His red eyes went wide in pain, and suddenly Harry wasn't.

He opened his eyes and found himself in the back of the truck, surrounded by anxious looking Weasleys.

"Harry, mate," Ron asked, "what happened?"

"Did we get away?"

The twins nodded. One of them said, "The whole lorry portkeyed away. I don't know where we are."

Harry looked around, "Where's Su?"

The boys looked upset, and Ginny got some look on her face that Harry couldn't understand as she said, "Just before we disappeared, a Death Eater got around behind the truck and Accio-ed her. She didn't get away."

- - -

**Part 9**

Voldemort picked himself up from the ground and finished healing the bullet wounds. If he hadn't done all those rituals when he was younger, the muggle weapon would have killed him. He smiled. They could defeat him as much as they wanted -- as long as he kept living.

He looked around. His Death Eaters were dragging a black haired girl towards the house. He didn't know who she was but he had seen her picture on the table in Potters mind. He smiled as he remembered the lily lying on it, the only picture so adorned.

"Where did you get her?"

"Macnair summoned her from the muggle carriage. She broke several of his bones before we stunned her."

"Take her to Little Hangleton. And get all my Death Eaters there. As soon as the Weasleys report what happened your houses will be searched by Aurors. However they found this place, they cannot find our headquarters."

"Yes, my lord."

- - -

"I shot him! Multiple times! He's out of commission, at least, if not dead."

Harry shook his head. He pointed to his scar, "I can still feel him. He's both mad and happy." He looked at Su's parents. "We have to rescue her."

Molly Weasley disagreed. "You've done things that you shouldn't do. Just leave this to Dumbledore and everything will be all right."

"Like it was all right at my relatives' house where the Death Eaters almost killed me? Like it was all right at the Burrow where they captured you? Like it was all right at Crabbe's where they held you? If I wait for the Ministry or Dumbledore to do anything, they'll kill her."

"Who's this Dumble-doorknob?" Jack asked. Several people answered at once.

"The greatest wizard in the world," Molly answered.

"Leader of the fight against the Dark Lord," Arthur said, too.

"Headmaster of my school, but pretty incompetent," Harry put in.

"An overgrown windbag," Mr. Li replied.

"He's just this old guy," Mrs. Li added.

The Weasley parents were scandalized at the other answers.

Jack, not knowing the Weasleys, decided to take the Lis' word on him. "So we leave him out. But we still have to find where they're keeping Su. Yin? Can you do your mumbo jumbo and find her?" They had already tried to get Hedwig to find her, but the owl couldn't.

"I don't know, Jack. It's hard if she's not close and I don't know where she is."

Wan put his hand on his wife's shoulder and said quietly, "Why don't you try? You are her mother, if you can follow that link it might help." At that moment, the doorbell ran. Mr. Li went to get it, while Yin excused herself from her guests.

"Harry," Ron asked, "Why didn't you come to us when you escaped the Death Eaters."

"Because Jack, who rescued me," he pointed at the trucker, "called a wizard friend of his across the pond after he realized that the Death Eaters were wizards, and his friend suggested that Mr. Li could help; so he brought me here."

Mr. Li came back in the room carrying a half-dozen little boxes. "Dinner!" he said, opening the just delivered Chinese food.

"What is that stuff?" Ron asked.

- - -

Su Li leaned against the wall to which she was shackled. She scratched her head. It was dark, dirty, and damp and she was going to take a long soak after this to get the dirt off. She scratched her arm. She wasn't _too_ worried, she did trust her parents, and she trusted the prophecy. She felt it unlikely to have a half-dozen children with Harry if she were killed.

That hadn't been in her thoughts when they apparated to -- where ever they were. There are things that can be done to you that don't kill you. Luckily, they hadn't done that to her. Yet. She hoped she would be rescued first. She scratched her leg.

- - -

"We have to call Dumbledore!" Molly insisted.

"He will just interfere! Or recommend we do nothing!" Wan exclaimed.

Jack had a different view of the matter. "Call him! The more the merrier. I'm sure this Voldie Mort has plenty of people on his side. We're going to need every gun, or in this case, wand."

"You can't be thinking about coming with us," Molly objected. "You're a muggle."

Jack shrugged. He knew he had been insulted, but he saw the worry in Harry's face, and wasn't going to rise to the insult. "I faced Lo Pan. I think I'm a bit experienced in the Fighting Dark Lord business."

Wan threw his hands up in frustration. "Do what you want. We leave to rescue Su as soon as we know where she is." Harry nodded.

"Oh, no, you're not going, Harry, dear. This is much too dangerous," Molly said.

Before Harry could respond, Ginny interrupted, "Why, Harry? Why would you put yourself in danger for her?"

Harry looked at her like she had lost her mind. "For the same reason I put myself in danger for you in the Chamber."

She looked puzzled. "But, but, we were friends. You spent the summer with me. . . ."

"Su and I are friends, even though we only met yesterday. And there's a prophecy. . . ."

"You know about the prophecy?" Arthur asked.

"Yes. I found out about it yesterday. Did you know?"

Molly wrung her hands, "Dumbledore told us about it, although he didn't tell us what it actually said. But you must know that you're not ready yet!"

"You're telling me! However, I still have a few years, and I'm sure other men have been in this position before. Had you ever changed a nappie before Bill came along, Mr. Weasley?"

The Weasleys looked confused as Arthur shook his head.

"But you had no trouble once you learned, right?"

"Well, that's true, but I hardly think that that compares with facing a Dark Lord."

Harry nodded. "That's probably true, but when I first heard the prophecy, I thought I'd _rather_ face Voldemort. But I realize now it was just panic."

Arthur felt that the conversation had taken a turn for the surreal. Before it could continue, Yin reappeared.

"I can see her, she's still alive, but I cannot get any idea of where she's being held. Harry? I hate to put you on the spot, but did you make any sort of emotional connection with her last night?"

"We talked and laughed together, but that's all we did."

"Maybe it's enough, considering the prophetic connection. Would you assist me?"

"Anything I can do to help."

"Follow me."

As they left the room, Molly got up. "May I use your floo, please?"

"Be my guest," Wan answered, pointing towards the sitting room. "Powder's right on the mantle."

Molly threw the powder into the fire she started and called for Dumbledore. She quickly explained the situation as she understood it.

"You must not let him go against Voldemort. Tell me where you are, and I'll come get him."

"We're at the Li's."

"Fine, if I'm not there soon, have him call Sirius. I'll have him invite Harry to his home."

"Sirius? You mean Sirius Black? He's on the run! Surely, you can't be serious!"

Dumbledore paused for a moment, shook his head and answered. "He was exonerated yesterday. Pettigrew was involved in the attack on Harry's home. They have proof that Sirius didn't kill him, because he was alive yesterday morning. But close the connection, I need to call off the hunt for Harry and then I'll be right there."

- - -

In the exercise room, Yin sat in a lotus position, while Harry, unable to do that, sat cross legged. They held hands, and had their eyes closed, while various Weasleys looked through the open door in confusion.

As they had sat down, Mrs. Li cast Legilimency on Harry and they left the mental link going as they closed their eyes. Mrs. Li did -- something. Harry couldn't tell what it was she did, but he could see her in his mind, sitting in a room with him similar to one they were in. As they "sat" the walls dissolved into darkness, and a beam of pink light seemed to originate from Su's mother into the darkness; it was bright but lit nothing in the darkness.

Yin noticed Harry following the light with his eyes. "That is bond between mother and daughter. I can follow it easier than I can follow yours." Harry looked down at himself and saw a pale blue beam going from him, parallel the bright, pink one. "Yours is either friendship or the bonds of prophecy. I'm hoping that once we arrive it will illuminate where she is."

Then they were moving. As there was nothing but black around them, Harry had no idea how he knew they were moving, but he knew it. Suddenly they stopped and he could see something besides the lights and Mrs. Li.

It was a cell. A very empty cell -- no furniture, only several chains attached to various walls. Shackled wrist and ankle was Su, looking dirty and mussed, but otherwise unhurt. She was twitching, Harry noticed, and seemed to be cold, she kept rubbing her bare arms and legs through her jeans.

"What did they do to her?" Harry asked, concerned.

"I don't know. Now it is your turn. Can you direct us? Concentrate on where you want to go."

Harry looked at the door and they moved towards it. Just as he was starting to wonder how to open it, they passed right through, and found themselves in a bare guard room, several other cells open, but otherwise no one around. He saw a staircase and followed it upwards with a thought. It ended at a wall that they passed through to enter a bedroom. Harry moved out of that room, and through a large house. They saw some Death Eaters in the sitting room, but no sign of Voldemort. Exiting the house, he passed the cemetery where Voldemort was restored to a new body. Moving faster now, he found a road and they sped towards a town.

"Look for a sign, a name, something to tell us where we are," Harry said.

"Slow down! Go back there. This is it! The Little Hangleton post office. Good job Harry! Now relax, and I'll take us back to our bodies."

"Oh, yeah. I forgot we weren't in them."

"That's why Far Seeing can be so dangerous. If you lose your way, you may never wake up."

They flew quickly back to Oxford. As they got near, Harry thought he saw a large, orange monster watching them. It looked back the way they came, and moved off in that direction. Harry soon forgot that as he realized he was back in his body and experienced the sensuousness of breathing and having a beating heart. He had never noticed them as being so _noticeable_ before.

- - -

Su squirmed again. Could things get any worse? Her fingers had lost a lot of their feeling, and the itching was all over. Why did this have to happen now? She cursed her Grandfather's ancestor, the snake. She gave up scratching with her hands and rubbed her forehead against the stone wall. The skin finally broke, and she reached up and started pulling it away.

She hadn't had to shed her skin in years! Why today?

- - -

**Part 10**

Dumbledore got off his knees and brushed the dust and soot from his beard. He had contacted the Order, calling off the hunt for Harry. Now to collect the boy.

He stood straight, adjusting his robes and putting on his most benevolent face. He remembered Yin Manchuria as having adopted her insufferable parents' attitude towards him. Well, they would just have to put up with him if they were going to rescue their daughter.

He threw the floo powder into the fire and watched it turn green. He stepped into the fireplace, and called out, "The Li residence."

Instead of the insane spinning that he expected as he moved through the magically connected fireplace network, he heard a magical voice say, "I'm sorry, but that fireplace is not on the network."

"I don't care what they called it! I'm the Supreme Mugwump!" he yelled at no one in particular. Suddenly he was spinning and speeding past fireplaces, almost too fast to see. Then the journey was over and he found himself in his office at the Wizengamot: the office of the Supreme Mugwump.

- - -

The doorbell rang as Harry and Yin rejoined the group in the kitchen. Wan looked at his wife, and both shrugged, with puzzled expressions on their faces.

"Harry, dear. Dumbledore suggested that you call Sirius and tell him you're all right, personally. He was exonerated this morning," Molly told him.

"He's free! Brilliant! Mrs. Li, can I use your floo to call him? He's my godfather."

"Of course, Harry. I'll show you."

Meanwhile, Wan was answering the door. "Yes, may I help you?"

"Yes, is there a Jack Burton here?"

"One moment. Jack! Some people to see you."

"What the hell?" Jack said, as he left the kitchen, scandalizing Mrs. Weasley. He reached the door, and opened it. "Wang! You old dog! What the hell are you doing here? And Miao! Keeping this idiot in line? Oh, let me introduce you to Wan Li. Wan? This is Wang and Miao Chi, some friends of mine from San Francisco. And these are members of the Chang Sing tong."

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Li," Wang said, shaking his hand. "Egg Shen told us get here right away after your phone call. We're here to fight evil with you again, Jack."

That got Wan's attention. "Egg Chen? The magician out of Hunan? Come in! Come in! We're grateful for your help."

- - -

"Harry, why don't you come by now? Just close this connection, toss in some more floo powder, and come to 12 Grimmauld Place. It's not much, but it's going to be home."

"I can't right now, Sirius. We're about to go rescue Su Li, my classmate."

"You can't go rescue someone! You're only, what? Fourteen?"

"Fifteen, now. And I helped rescue the Weasleys."

"Doesn't matter. It's too dangerous."

"Sorry, Sirius, but I can't _not_ rescue her. There's this prophecy. . . ."

"Dumbledore said that he wasn't going to tell you the prophecy!"

"Su's father didn't tell her, either. But now we know, so I have to go. She's the Mouse Princess' granddaughter."

"Huh?"

"So I have to rescue her! Bye! I think we're heading out now."

"Wait! Harry! At least let me come!"

"Sure, Sirius."

"What's the floo address?"

Harry turned to Mrs. Li. "Yin Li's Laundry," she told him. Harry informed Sirius and pulled his head out of the fire. A moment later and Sirius was there. At the same time, voices were being raised in the kitchen. They hurried to the noise.

"But it's a hundred and fifty miles, give or take a dozen. Sure I could drive it, but we couldn't be there in less than two, two and a half hours! And it would be very uncomfortable to do it in my truck. I suppose we could rent a bus tomorrow. . . ." Jack was saying as they looked at the map. There were a whole lot more oriental men in the room.

"What's going on?" Harry asked one of the Twins.

"Friends of Jack just showed up, and they're arguing about the fastest way to get to somewhere in Lancashire."

"How are all these muggles going to fight Death Eaters?" Ron wanted to know.

Harry shrugged. "Looks like about half of them have swords. The others. . . I think that's called a flail but I thought they were bigger, and those star like things on his belt look like some sort of weapon. They've done something like this before, if these are Jack's friends who fought Lo Pan."

"Who?"

"An immortal Chinese dark lord."

The door bell ran again. As Mr. Li went to answer it, Mrs. Weasley called out.

"It's time to go, now, kids. Everyone under seventeen, with me! We're going to Aunt Muriel's place for the night. You, too, Harry."

"I'm not going! I have to rescue Su."

"Let the grown ups do that, dear. They have lots of people to do that. You'll just be in the way."

"I'm not going!"

"He's not going."

Molly turned to the new voice and gave a small scream. "Sirius Black! You surprised me."

"Good evening, Mrs. Weasley. As Harry's godfather, he'll be staying with me. Why don't you get your brood to bed, and once you're done with the floo, I'll take care of Harry."

"I'm perfectly willing to take care of Harry. . ."

"And I thank you for your kind offer, but I've been waiting fourteen years to take care of my godson, and I'm eager to get on with it."

"Very well, but if you have any questions or concerns -- teenage boys can be a handful, you know -- just call me at Muriel Prewett's house."

"I will, Mrs. Weasley."

"Call me Molly."

"Only if you call me Sirius."

"You sure you won't be coming, Harry?" Ron asked. Harry shook his head. "Fire call me tomorrow, Okay?"

"all right."

"Molly," Arthur told her, "I'll be helping the Lis. They rescued us; the least I can do is to help rescue their daughter."

"But Arthur. . ."

"How would you feel if it were Ginny?"

"It's not the same. . ."

"It's exactly the same. Go on, now. I'll be fine. Contact the Aurors fifteen minutes after you get home. They need to know about Malfoy and Crabbe and the rest."

"I'd feel better if you were there."

"So would I, but this is something I have to do." Besides, he thought, he'll probably get another ride in that muggle lorry.

- - -

Dumbledore waited impatiently at the fireplace in his office. The fire flared green and Minerva McGonagall came through, wearing a robe, but not one he had ever seen her in; it appeared that there were no buttons in the front for holding it closed; nor was there a tie if it were a bathrobe. It only reached half way between her knees and ankles, and she was wearing sandals with no other leg covering visible. She held the robe closed in front of herself. Her gray flecked dark hair flowed gracefully down her back instead of being up in her usual, severe bun.

"There had better be a good reason for summoning me half way around the world, Albus!"

"There is a reason of the utmost importance, I assure you, Minerva. I must find the address of one of our students, and I cannot make hide nor hair of the filing system!"

"For this you interrupt my vacation!"

"It's the place where Harry Potter is located!"

"Is it a Death Eater's house?" she asked, moving rapidly towards her office.

"No, but the students parents are not very friendly towards the Light."

"Who is this student?"

"Su Li."

"Ravenclaw, going into fifth year. I remember her mother. They are both good students, although her mother seemed to question the difference between the British way of doing magic and her father's Chinese magic a lot."

They reached the Deputy Headmistress' office, and went through the door in the back wall next to the window overlooking the courtyard where the students first get flying lessons. This was one of the Castle's obviously magical rooms, as the door to it was situated on an outside wall, yet it opened to a room that ran for hundreds of feet, filled with floor to ceiling file cabinets -- the records of hundreds of years worth of students. She went right in and straight to a particular drawer. Opening it, she pulled out a file and handed it to Dumbledore. However, she forgot to hold her robe closed, and the Headmaster got an eyeful of a well endowed witch wearing a swimsuit that might have had four square inches of material. Maybe.

A flustered leader of the Light took the file, and concentrated on the address.

"I'll apparate right there," he said, handing the folder back.

Minerva took it with a humph, put it back in the drawer, and said, "If there is nothing more, I'm going back to the Caribbean."

"No, that will be all," Dumbledore said, not looking at her.

- - -

Su Li squirmed and pulled and finally her left arm came free of the old skin. But not only that, it came free from the shackle.

"I wasn't expecting that," she said to herself. She had heard of people wearing skin tight clothes, but now she knew they really didn't. She used her totally free hand to attack the skin on her right arm, pushing it off her shoulder, and slowly working at extracting her right hand.

- - -

**Part 11**

The Death Eaters entered the Riddle house talking loudly and confidently of their recent success. Their numbers were now a dozen greater, as they helped their recently released companions, who were still suffering the after effects of almost fourteen years in Azkaban. They talked up their own actions, blotting out the fact that had their lord not been with them, they wouldn't have succeeded. He was the one that brought down the wards. He was the one that opened the exterior door. He was the one that summoned the Dementors. They were on their way. They could move quickly when they wanted but were still slower than an apparating wizard.

Voldemort came in behind his Death Eaters with Bellatrix Lestrange holding on to his arm. Her husband was giving her dark looks while keeping his eyes averted from her escort. The talking in the entranceway quieted down as he stood there.

Looking up the stairs, he called, "Nagini!" The green head appeared at the top of the steps. The dark lord and his familiar held a hissed conversation before the snake disappeared.

"You may use the first bedroom on the right. Do not go anywhere else. No one else is to go up there, or you will find out how painful death by snakebite can be.

"Now, I want a plan to use our guest to bait a trap for Potter! No mistakes this time!" He stalked upstairs to the den leaving a less happy group of psychopaths behind.

- - -

As Arthur was seeing his wife off through the fireplace, Wan was answering the door.

"Chela! You have been very incompetent! Losing my granddaughter!"

"Master, I am shamed," Wan said, bowing his head.

"Wan," said the beautiful woman beside the sorcerer to whom Wan was apprenticed, "collect your friends. We are here to help you rescue Su."

"My queen, please come in."

"Just for a moment. We are ready to go, if you know where we need to go."

They entered the kitchen where Arthur was explaining that he could conjure seats in the back of the truck for the Chang Sings, while Jack demanded that all modifications to the truck would have to be reversed before Monday when he had to be back at work with it.

"Everyone, please," Wan interrupted.

"Papa! Mama!" Yin squealed and gave the extraordinarily beautiful woman a hug.

Mr. Li called for quiet. "I wish to introduce my master.

"He is a simple magician out of Manchuria, coming south to find peaceful lands and prosperous villages where he may amuse the people with his arts. Along with his mastery of magic, he is able to read minds, tell time without consulting clocks, and find lost money. He asks no great payment for his entertainment, but he has always held that avariciousness is a sin. The mysterious Koot Hoomi Lal Singh has commented favorably upon the subtlety of his mind. The only thing he hates is politics, and it is because of the new politics in Manchuria that he has left there forever."

The older man smiled, "You still remember your speech. He would give that in each village when we began our show. Are we all here to rescue my granddaughter?" There was a murmur of consent. "Then grab the map, and let us be off."

"A real take charge kind of guy," Jack said, picking up the map.

"Must be that mind reading thing that Mr. Li mentioned," Wang answered, as he followed.

He headed out of the building, as Wan directed people to follow, and added, "And next to him is his wife, the Lusty Queen of La."

"Just call me Xi" she called, as she walked with her husband and daughter down the street.

Harry, Sirius, Arthur, and followed Jack and his friends from America. The Chang Sings seemed to be in a jovial mood.

"My truck's over there?" Jack half asked, as they walked down the street.

"Thank you for your offer, Jack," Wan answered from the back of the parade, "but the Magician has provided alternative transportation."

"Oh, and where is. . . you have got to be kidding!"

A block and a half from the laundry there was a small park. In the duck pond floated a boat. She would not have been out of place on a river in China. She was painted red, with a triangular sail loosely flapping in the breeze. A brown eye had been painted at the front of the boat. Harry thought that eye had the same expression as an eager puppy. Under the eye was a discoloration that gave the boat an impression of a smile. Besides being very out of place in the parks' pond, it was almost as big as the pond, being some 40 feet long, and there was no place for it to sail.

"Welcome aboard _The Flower of the Lotus_!" the Magician called as he waved the Chang Sings aboard.

"How is that going to get us to Little Hangleton?" Jack asked.

Arthur shrugged, "Magic, I suppose."

They boarded, and Wan helped the Magician pull up the gangplank. The Magician went to the tiller and grasped it. Nothing happened.

At least not at first. Then two great, feathered wings appeared from the sides of the boat, and it took to the air.

- - -

Albus Dumbledore appeared on a street in Oxford. Quickly getting his bearings, he ran down the street belying his age. The store was closed, but a quick search around the house revealed the residential entrance. But the house looked no more occupied than the store. A quick spell and he knew that no one was inside.

Reverting to his excesses of youth, he issued a stream of profanity that went on for minutes.

- - -

Harry stood at the bow of the ship. Jack and the map were called back to the tiller to help the Magician navigate. As he looked over the roads and houses, listening to the excited talk of the Chang Sings, a soft hand was placed on his shoulder.

"So you are the young man my granddaughter is prophesied to marry? I have heard of you, of course, but not in connection with all your scheduled defeats of Voldemort."

Harry looked at the woman. She was quite beautiful, and Harry could see her daughter and granddaughter in her.

"What's reported isn't always true, and what's important isn't always reported," he replied with a little bitterness in his voice.

"Do not be discouraged. If they are only saying bad things about you, you are doing better than me. When I was only a little older than you, they almost succeeded in drowning me. And the Magician! They eventually had the whole Chinese army after him!"

Harry thought back to his pre-Hogwarts education. He knew China had the largest population of any country in the world, and a giant army. "Thats a lot of people," he said, impressed.

"Oh yes, when they almost caught us, he was amazing."

"How did he defeat them?"

She smiled. "He ran away. _The Flower of the Lotus_ sprouted wings and flew for the first time. The leader of the army was so amazed he asked to come with us. In the end, they saw that a world without magic is a lesser world."

Harry thought about the late Dursleys and nodded. "But all the muggles! They have no choice!"

She gave a sigh. "If they don't see the magic in spring day, or a lover's smile, then that is their choice. That is what your Dark Lord wants, ultimately: to destroy the magic even among the magical."

"Will it take a long time to get there, She?"

"Xi, Harry." It was a short sounding word, but seemed to have an abbreviated "SH" and a slight "K" sound in it, too. He tried again.

"Just call me Mouse. And no, it will not take a long time. It took very little time to cross the Pacific Ocean when we fled China. I don't think _The Flower_ goes through all the intervening space; but not even the Magician knows how he made her."

Harry thought that it was typical of wizards to do things that they didn't understand.

"My daughter says you are the one destined to marry Su. How do you feel about it?"

"I don't know. I mean, I only met her yesterday. We've seen each other at school, but never really talked. Isn't it a bit soon to be talking about marriage?"

"Indubitably; yet there is that prophecy. It's probably best if you forget the whole thing and let it take care of itself. But now its time to indulge an old woman. Tell me about Harry Potter."

- - -

"Jack!"

"Yes, Wan?"

"I have something for you." Mr. Li joined Jack and the Magician at the tiller. He pulled out an object wrapped in cloth and handed to the Teamster. Jack unrolled the cloth and found a knife. It was all of one piece, the handle made from the same metal.

"Thanks, Wan, but I have my own knife." He pointed towards his boot.

"Yes, but this is a magic blade."

"Really? What's it do?"

"It cuts things. I made it from the magic metal that formed that hand. I believe that no mundane object can kill Voldemort. Take it. You have no magic, but this will at least compensate a little."

"What about them?" Jack pointed at the Chang Sings.

The Magician answered, "They are trained for this. They will do well. You must watch Harry."

Jack looked at the boy at the bow talking with the Magician's wife. He nodded.

- - -

Yin looked at the young woman who clutched the mast. "Miao, you do not need to worry. The ship is perfectly safe."

The other woman looked distressed as she shook her head. "It is just that I was unconscious most of the time when . . . sorcery was being done when Wang rescued me from Lo Pan. I am unsure now why I came. This is. . . too much."

"You came, as did I, to be with your man. He has not said, but I know this will be dangerous. Love doesn't care about danger. We'll worry, we may be useless in the fight, but, as Harry said," she nodded at the young man at the bow, "we can't not go."

"But a flying ship? What else can magic do?"

Yin shrugged. "It can do many wonderful things, but that's because wonderful people use it. In the hands of bad people it does bad things. It's no different from the mundane world: good and evil, love and hate, life or death. Mostly, magicals use it for convenience, and in that way it's no different from mundane technology -- dish washers, clothes dryers, microwaves, things like that. Even people with magic can lose the wonder involved; again, no different from the mundanes who forget how fantastical a telly is. Don't worry too much about magic, but if you see a spell coming at you, dodge."

Harry called from the bow, "This looks familiar! Mrs. Li, that town looks like the one near the graveyard!"

Yin jogged to the side of the ship. "He's right. More starboard! We're close."

Wang called out. "If we're really close, then I have a gift from Egg Chen!" He held up a gourd. There was a cheer from some of the Chang Sings who recognized it from the attack on Lo Pan.

"All right!" shouted Jack.

- - -

Su grumbled. It was taking too long! Someone was going to check on her soon, she was sure! She pushed the skin near her foot, and got her leg totally free. It too was out of the shackle, now, leaving just one more foot. One thing she didn't count on, though: in the rolled up mess of skin was her clothes. She frowned as she sat bare bottom on the dirty floor of the cell. There had been no way to take the clothes off before she shed her skin, and now with the old skin shrinking and drying, she wasn't sure if she could get her clothes out in a timely fashion. She cursed, and started on the other leg.

- - -

AN: From the book The Magician Out of Manchuria, by Charles G. Finney, (c) 1968.

- - -

**Part 12**

Yin moved to the bow of the ship and looked down. "Take us down out of sight of the house." Harry wasn't sure who she was talking to, as her voice wasn't loud enough to carry to the back of the ship, but the wings banked a little and the ship started to descend. As it did, he saw the old house that held Su.

"Harry!" Jack yelled from midship. "Get over here for a moment."

The Chang Sings were standing around, looking muscular and slightly silly with their weapons on them. They were holding plastic cups that steamed.

Jack's friend, Wang, poured some of the steaming liquid from a gourd into another cup and handed to him. Jack already held one. Wang poured one more for himself.

"Magician? Mr. Li? Do you want some?" Wang called respectively.

The Magician shook his head from where he held the tiller (Why? Harry wondered). "No, this fight is a young man's battle. I have to guard the ship and the women." Mr. Li also shook his head.

"What about us?" Mrs. Li asked.

Wang didn't offer her any. "Egg said not to give it to any ladies because it will, quote, put hair on their chests and give them a set of balls that no man could rival, unquote. I think he was trying to get across that it would be a bad idea."

"Hmmph," scoffed Miao.

"It is true," Yin told her, "there are potions that have very detrimental effects on the wrong gender. Just accept it, since we don't know enough to object."

"Very wise, daughter," replied the Magician.

"What is it?" Sirius wanted to know, eying his tumbler suspiciously. Harry was just about to ask that, too. Arthur was sniffing it with a puzzled look on his face.

Jack, of all people, answered. "It's a magic potion. It lets you see things no one else can see; do things no one else can do. We used it when we defeated Lo Pan. Drink up! To Britannia! May she always rule the seas!"

Wang raised his cup, "God save the Queen!"

Jack, Wang, and the Chang Sings started to drink, as Harry, Sirius, and Arthur echoed, "God save the Queen!" and drank, too.

"Hey!" Harry exclaimed, "that's good!"

The Magician responded, "Only the British and the Spanish boast about how terrible their potions taste. The Spanish do it for Machismo. Why the British do it, I'll never understand."

Wan and the Magician put the gang plank over the side of the ship which had landed at the edge of the cemetery. Harry, disembarked and did a double take, as he noticed the ship had two bird-like legs and feet holding it upright in the absence of water. Since he had seen the area in a vision, he led the mixed group of wizards and martial artists towards the house on the other side of a hill. Though the grounds weren't well kept, he noticed the group seemed to make no sounds. He began to feel more confident about attacking the Death Eaters.

"Wowa!" Sirius whispered. "That stuff has quite a kick!" Harry wasn't sure what he was talking about. He felt great. He felt better than great! He felt invulnerable! They were going to kick some Death Eater arse and rescue Su!

- - -

Back at the ship, the Magician had gathered the three women near the bow of _The Flower of the Lotus_. He started searching his many pockets, until he pulled three brightly colored balls out of someplace. He juggled them for a moment.

"Stop your playing, old fool!" his wife complained. He caught all three balls in one hand and looked at her with an expression of a long-suffering husband.

"Fine, we'll get right to it then. Each of you, take one of these balls, and hold it tight. It would be best if you were each touching each other. You, my Lusty Queen, pretend you are old and wrinkled. You, daughter, be maternal. And you, Miss Chi, think back to before your wedding. This is important! The better you do with this, the more powerful the magic!" As he was saying this he had put all three women's empty hands together between them and made some mystic hand motions over each one. The balls were about the size, weight, and hardness of billiard balls. Miao's was golden, Yin's green, and his wife's was red.

"What will all this do," said his wife with the voice of one who had put up with his foolishness for many years.

"Excellent! Keep those thoughts of old age! Harry is going to meet his first destiny up there! There's no reason not to push Fate in the direction we want it to go." He pulled a ball of twine from one of his pockets, and gently looped the end over Miao's wrist near the ball she clutched. He took Yin's hand from the others, and held the twine to her.

"Reach in and pull out a loop of string, daughter. Reach deep." She did that causing a bit of string to poke out of the rest of the ball, and then disappear back into it. "A most obedient daughter!"

He next pulled a pair of scissors from his pocket, he handed them to his wife. "Cut the loop," he told her, as she briefly let go of the other two women. He put away the scissors and told them, "I shall return as soon as I can. You should be safe enough here, but should you need to escape, get aboard The _Flower of the Lotus_ as quick as you can." He walked off, unrolling the thread.

"Why is he walking that way? The rest went the other direction?" Miao asked.

His wife watched him walk into the cemetery and answered, "You must remember, he is not a fighter. I wouldn't call him a coward, but he has a strong instinct for self preservation. Remember what we must meditate on, though."

"What magic is this?" Yin asked her mother.

"I think half the time he makes it up as he goes along. Trust him, daughter."

The three women's hands clutched tighter.

- - -

Su wiggled her leg and pulled while holding the skin with both hands. Suddenly, her foot came free of the old skin and the metal shackle. She was free. She got up, brushing the dirt off her backside and legs, and picked up the tightly rolled up former skin. She struggled with it for a moment, and gave up.

"It will take me hours to get my clothes disentangled from this thing. I don't think I have time for this!" she mumbled to herself. She quickly looked around. Still no one here. She grabbed the skin/clothes bundle and raced up the stairs. Better to be in her birthday suit than chained to a wall clothed!

She reached the top of the stairs and found the latch that opened the door. The panel swung in, and, as she didn't see anyone in the bedroom that was on the other side of the secret door, she stepped into it.

"The master said bite anyone who comes in here until he tells me differently. Time to die little girl!" Nagini, the large green snake, lunged at Su from the bed.

- - -

**Part 13**

Harry looked back at the people following him. The Chang Sings seemed to a man to be smiling and bouncing; not at all like a group going into battle. He noticed that he was smiling too. Jack held his gun in two hands and every now and then patted his new knife. Sirius and Arthur had their wands in hand, as did Mr. Li.

They reached the front door of the house, and paused.

Harry gave some last minute information. "You get to Su up the stairs. That's where I'm going."

"We're going," Jack amended.

"There's a big room off to the right where I know some Death Eaters were before. Be careful. Don't get hit by any spells -- they'll look like slow moving beams of light." He put his hand on the doorknob and asked, "Ready?"

"I was born ready!" Jack answered. Harry rolled his eyes, turned the knob, pulled open the door, and raced inside.

He barely saw the first Death Eater before he stunned the black clad minion. He ran past the archway that led to the living room, which he saw was filled with more Death Eaters. He jumped several stairs and almost lost his balance as he headed up. There was the sound of machine gun fire right behind him; Jack was following, but got off a burst from his Sten gun at the black robed figures.

- - -

The snake's lunge was met with less surprise from its victim than it expected. Su not only understood snakes and shed her skin due to her grandfather's heritage, but had the reactions of one, too. She imposed the bundle of old skin and clothes between her and the attacking snake. Once it was in the air, it had less ability to change direction so it ended up face first into the wad. With her other hand Su grabbed the green viper behind the head. The rest of the snake swung around, though, and slapped her back. She almost let go of the snake, but didn't. Dropping the skin, she grabbed it behind the head with her other hand too. The snake was whipping its body around, trying to force her to let go. It got a coil of itself around her neck and started squeezing. She squeezed back, knowing as her vision started going dark that she wasn't going to win this fight.

- - -

Arthur Weasley followed behind the Chang Sings. He had been unable to get past them to get near Harry. He entered the house, knowing this whole business was a bad idea; however, he didn't care since that potion had kicked in. He saw the oriental fighters pulling out their weapons and going through an archway into another room. Looking in, he forgot about following Harry as he saw the uncovered face of Lucius Malfoy! He cast an explosive curse at the bleached blonde and moved into the room.

There were spells flying everywhere, but only in one direction - from the death eaters towards the muggles. Yet the muggles didn't seem to have any trouble dodging. One, the leader, Wang, ran towards a wall, and then ran on the wall for about six feet before coming down in front of a Death Eater who was staring at him in astonishment.

Malfoy had avoided Arthur's curse, and returned with an "_Avada Kedavra_."

Arthur levitated a chair into the path of the spell and smiled. So he wanted to play rough, did he?

The _Avada Kedavra_, following the strange rules of that spell that caused no damage to inanimate objects unless they were used as blocks, splinted the chair. Arthur banished the pieces towards Malfoy. He noticed the Death Eaters weren't faring well with opponents who didn't stay still to be cursed and who struck back with extremely sharp weapons, if all the limbs on the ground were any indication.

Malfoy yelled as one of the pieces of the chair hit him. He brought up his wand to strike down Arthur but the red head had already cast another spell that struck him. He fell to the ground as his knee exploded -- both literally and in pain. A second hit from the same spell destroyed his other kneecap. When he stopped screaming in agony enough to consider doing something besides screaming more, he saw that Arthur Weasley was standing over him. He started to move his wand, but Arthur's foot came down hard, breaking both wand and hand. Arthur then stupefied the Death Eater and looked to see the rest of the group finishing the few wizards still standing.

- - -

"Here he comes."

The three women watched as the Magician walked towards them from another direction, still rolling out thread from the now very small ball. He reached the end at the same time he reached his wife. He tied the end loosely over her wrist, just like Miao's. He then took the ball Miao was holding. Extracting a long needle from up a sleeve, he inserted it right through the ball. He placed the ball back in Miao's hand and did something that she couldn't see. However, once he removed his hand, the string went right through the ball. He did the same thing with the red ball his wife held, causing the twine to go through it, too. And finally he made a hole through the green ball his daughter held and tossed the needle over his shoulder (although Miao was sure that it never hit the ground, as she heard no noise.)

He untied the string from the two wrists, and tied it together, but leaving it circle around the Queen and Miao's wrists, just not tied to them. Yin watched as he covered her hands, still holding the green ball, with his. When he opened his hands, she saw that the thread ran through her ball, too.

He rearranged the women, putting them in a line with Yin in the middle. His wife and Miao hugged her from the sides as she held the green ball in both hands. They still held theirs.

"Now we wait," he said.

"Wait for what?" Miao wanted to know.

"Them, I think," Yin answered.

"Who?"

"She cannot see them, daughter. Neither can your mother. Best not to alarm them."

"What about me?" She said with alarm as she watched the hoard of Dementors cross the graveyard towards them.

- - -

Harry reached the top of the steps at the same time as Bella stepped out of her bedroom. The witch saw her master's nemesis, and cast a stunning hex at him. Harry dodged to the side, and right through the door that led to Su. Unfortunately, because he was right behind Harry, Jack took the spell right in his face. He fell down the steps.

Sirius avoided the body, and returned the spell at his cousin. She threw up a shield and the duel was on!

- - -

Harry slammed the door closed before he took in the scene before him. Su was holding the snake with both hands, while the snake was holding Sue around the neck. They were both rolling around the floor and Harry was afraid whatever he cast would hit Su. He ran over to them, put his wand to the snake's face, and cast an explosive curse. The head exploded.

He pulled the still wiggling snake body off of Su, and wiped her face with the bedspread to get the gore off of it. As he started on her torso he noticed she wasn't wearing anything.

He mumbled, "See things that no one else can see!"

"Stop staring at my black cat!"

"Why do you call it that?"

"Guess!" she said, as she got up. Harry opened a closet and took one of the only bits of clothing out, a men's dinner jacket. It was too large for Su, but it covered the important parts.

"What kept you?" Su wanted to know, grabbing her bundle. Harry couldn't tell what it was.

"Traffic," Harry answered, taking her hand as they headed to the door to the corridor.

- - -

The battle between Sirius and Bella started slow -- not the contestants, but the resolution. They cast several spells at each other, but being in a corridor, they couldn't use any furniture or other local items as weapons or defense, and they couldn't feint movement or change direction -- there wasn't enough area to move. So they threw spells at each other and blocked and dodged the return fire. Sirius moved left to avoid a bone breaker, and changed tactics.

"_Aquamenti_ _Maximus_!" he muttered and sent a fire-hose strength stream of water down the corridor. Bellatrix dodged left and Sirius moved his wand a little. She tried to get past it on the right, but the force of the water was so powerful that it threw her into the door at the end of the hall. She fell down stunned, and Sirius summoned her wand.

Two doors opened simultaneously and Voldemort and Harry stepped into the corridor, although only Voldemort's feet got wet.

- - -

Note: A few lines of dialog were stolen from _You Only Live Twice_ by Ian Flemming.

- - -

**Part 14**

"What do you see, daughter?" the Queen asked.

"Dark things," was all Yin could say.

The Magician was slightly more forthcoming. "Demons! Come to suck out our souls. Miao, my Queen, open your hands! Daughter, do not let your ball go!"

The two women on the end did so, the balls started floating away, following the twine that was threaded through them. As they floated away, the two magic users noticed the demons huddle together a little, but they were still advancing. Miao shuddered. The Magician got behind her and put a hand on Miao's and the Queen's shoulders.

"Father, why are we standing here?"

"We must wait for the magic to be ready."

"And how will we know that?" she asked as she tried to back up, but couldn't because her father was right behind her. Their breath was visible in the air, and they were gripped by fear.

The Queen glared at him. "The magic had better be ready soon or else!"

"I'm frightened!" Miao wined.

"My daughter," Yin whispered.

Suddenly the green ball Yin held tight in her hands started glowing.

"Let it go!" her father said, tightening the hug he was giving all three.

This ball didn't float, it flew! Straight at the Dementors, glowing brighter and brighter. From the darkness the red and golden ball also glowed and moved to meet the the green one amidst the Dementors. As they approached each other, the whole area was lit by their light. In that light, even the two non-magic users could see the shrouded shapes.

The Magician called out in a loud voice, "You take but you do not give back! You do not live but you breed! You eat but you do not die! You are unnatural in the circle of life, therefore be gone from it!"

The light flared and when it faded there was nothing where the dark shapes were before. The air quickly warmed up.

"Come, let us board _The Flower of the Lotus_ and be ready to rescue our companions," he said, giving the women one last squeeze of his arms, then turning towards the boat.

"Do they need rescue?" his wife asked.

"I do not know. Let us go and see."

- - -

Jack bounced off Wan Li on his way down the stairs, but did not hit him with enough force to knock him down as well. Wan moved down the stairs to help the muggle, and then thought it best to keep his head down, as there were numerous spells flashing by above his head. He started casting healing spells to Jack, stopping the flow of blood, and awakening him from his stupor.

"What happened?" he said, shaking his head to clear it.

"You were hit by a stun curse and fell down the stairs. Are you ready to rejoin the battle?" he said, looking up and seeing more spells flying overhead.

"I'm always ready for a fight!" There was a sound of water, a thunk and then nothing from above. "Better hurry or there'll be no one left to fight," he said, running up the stairs. He got to the top to see Harry and Su step out of one door, and a bald, pale, man-like thing step out of another. There was a woman, soaked and lying in a heap near the evil wizard. He remembered her from his brief encounter a few minutes ago. He pointed his gun at the menacing figure.

Wan whispered to him, "Remember, you shot him before and it did no good."

"Harry Potter!" tall, pale, and noseless said. "And I thought I'd have trouble luring you to your death after the fiasco from this morning."

"Damn! He's an ugly one, isn't he," Jack commented.

"Associating with muggles, Potter? How low can you get?"

"I can't believe YOU would say something like that, Voldie, considering that you've turned yourself into something that's not even human."

"I am better than human! I am a god!"

"Oh, come off it! You couldn't beat me when I was a baby! You couldn't beat me when you were possessing Quirrell! You couldn't beat me when you had a bloody basilisk to help! You couldn't even beat me when I was weak from blood loss and had a twisted ankle. Face it, Voldie, you suck at this. Ever consider a different line of work? With your lack of a nose, perhaps something where that's an advantage, like garbage collector?"

"DIE POTTER! _Avada Kedavra_!"

"_Expelliarmus_!"

In the few weeks that had passed since Harry had dueled Voldemort, he had wondered about getting a wand that worked against the Dark Lord. He felt he should do that some time in the future, but at the moment, should he ever face Voldemort again, the brother wands were the only thing that would keep him from being killed. If he were the better duelist, in this case Snake-face, he would have replaced the wands right away. So he had a sinking feeling that his life was about to end.

His analysis failed to take into account two things. One was Voldemort's ego. The Dark Lord formerly known as Riddle felt that in similar circumstances, the results would be different, because he wanted them to be different. The other impediment to getting a wand was that Dark Lords couldn't just go to Ollivander's and buy a new wand. There would be aurors and people would make a fuss and it would be very unlikely that he could get the service he deserved.

Bottom line, when the two spells hit, the brother wand effect occurred and a very narrow golden cage formed.

"Damn you! Die Potter!"

"You're an idiot you . . . ." What followed was a string of words that would have made a longshoreman blush. Even Voldemort looked taken aback.

"All you had to do was use another wand and you would have won," Harry said, as the lump of magic in the middle of the beam connecting their two wands slowly moved towards Voldemort.

"Like this?" Voldemort said, pulling out another wand from the pocket of his robe. The glowing blob between them started moving towards Voldemort faster, but Harry realized it wouldn't be fast enough.

"_Avada_ . . . ."

Thunk! A silver knife blade embedded itself into his skull. His body jerked, dropping both wands, and the chunk of magic flew into Voldemort, breaking like a water balloon, but with a lot more force. The body was blasted into the wall behind him where it broke through the plaster and got stuck in an upright position.

"It's all in the reflexes," Jack explained, as it was he that threw the knife.

Harry turned to the trucker, and said, "Thanks, Jack."

"All part of the service. Let's get outta here," he gestured for Harry and Su to go ahead of him.

"Harry?"

"Yes, Su?"

"If you ever say anything like that again, I'll make you sleep on the couch for a year."

"Sorry, Su. I sort of got caught up in the moment."

"That is not the behavior I expect from the father of my children."

"Sorry, Su."

Jack whispered to Sirius, "They probably won't get married for years, and already she's got him whipped."

"Lily, his mother, severely curtailed his father's pranking after they started going together, too. Must run in the family."

They reached the bottom of the stairs and were waiting for the crowd of Chang Sings that were walking up the gang plank to _The Flower_ right outside the front door when a wall towards the back of the house was knocked in by a two meter tall, orange furred monster.

"Aw, shit!" Jack muttered.

"Stupify!" Harry exclaimed, hitting the thing in its large fanged face. It came towards them as if the spell had been nothing more than the beam of a flashlight.

It ran up to Jack who kicked it right between the legs. It went down, clutching its groin.

Jack shrugged, "It's the only thing that seems to slow it down."

Harry tried to magically tie it up, but the spell had no effect.

"Give it up, Harry. I've tried shooting it, blowing it up, running it over, knocking it off a mountain -- nothing bothers it but a boot to the cobblers. We should go before it recovers."

After they exited the house, Arthur said his goodbyes and apparated to the Ministry to bring back some aurors and clean up the mess. _The Flower of the Lotus_ again sprouted wings and gracefully took to the air.

- - -

The Chang Sing left for a hotel once _The Flower_ brought them back to Oxford. The Magician and the Queen, and Miao and Wang spent the night. Sirius gave Harry the address to his home on Grimmauld Place, and, after making sure that it was all right with the Lis for Harry to stay there a few days while he got the place cleaned up, he left to do so.

Jack said his goodbyes; he had to pick up a load in Newbury in the morning, and not knowing the traffic, felt it better to be there before he called it a night. The enchantments on the truck to allow a crowd to sit in it were removed, and he was ready to go.

"Thanks, Jack," Harry said, a little embarrassed by the tears that were forming in his eyes. "You saved my life several times."

"Nothing you wouldn't have done to me. Just remember what ol' Jack always says, 'I save your life, you save mine.' Until we meet again. . . ." They shook hands, Jack whispered, "Don't be a pansy with your new girlfriend. There's no law that says you have to agree with her all the time. Stand up for yourself! You just fought an evil, immortal sorcerer!"

Harry smiled and nodded. Then Jack left.

- - -

The next morning Yin got up early, as was her habit, and went downstairs to begin making breakfast. She found Harry sitting on the couch, with a sleeping Su using his lap as a pillow.

"She had trouble sleeping last night, so we, er cuddled here. Her grandfather thought it was more appropriate to use the couch than to do that in one of our bedrooms."

"So you've been up all night with her?"

"Half the night; and I've dozed off a few times, too."

"Thank you Harry, you. . . ." but whatever she was going to say was interrupted by the back door banging open. Dumbledore came rushing in from the kitchen.

"Harry! You can't put yourself in danger rescuing Su Li! You must put your own feelings aside for the Greater Good!"

His declaration woke Su, who caught Dumbledore's attention as she sat up.

"Oh," he said, a bit quieter.

In an icy tone Yin said, "I think you've worn out your welcome, Headmaster Dumbledore. I suggest you leave before I call the aurors to arrest you for breaking and entering!"

"Yes, well, so sorry. Terrible misunderstanding. I'll talk to you later, Harry."

Harry just kept staring at him with a shocked expression. Dumbledore left.

"What an awful man!" Yin exclaimed.

"There are other magic schools," Harry pointed out.

Su nodded. "We could magically learn another language and go to a different school."

"Like Beauxbatons? I don't think I'd want to go to Durmstrung."

"I was thinking Chinese. There's a school that teaches both Oriental and Occidental magic in New York's China Town."

"If you want to go to another school, I have no objection," Yin said.

"Do they have a Quidditch team?" Harry wanted to know.

"Quadpot is more popular, but if I remember correctly, they do have a Quidditch club. They need to magically travel to the pitch, which is in the Catskills."

"Sounds good to me."

- - - -

Two months later:

"This is the ol' Pork Chop Express making my way down a beautiful, clear section of I-80. Just want to remind you that when you're face to face with your worst nightmare, and the gates of hell are spewing forth things with your name on their blades, and the fiery pits are flaring, just remember what Ol' Jack always says: 'Come on, you demons of hell! I've got my marshmallows on my stick in one hand, and my knife in the other, and I've got friends!'"

He pulled into the rest stop as his government mandated break time came around. He climbed out of the Pork Chop Express and stretched. As he did so, a snowy owl settled on he wheel cover, holding out a leg.

Jack smiled as he reached for the letter and told the owl, "As old Jack always says, 'It's good to have friends.'"

**The End.**


End file.
